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Has anyone here done this mid-career? Was it worth it?
On the other hand, the masters program will introduce you to a new network of people, and working towards a goal with a cohort is much more motivating than learning by yourself.
What are you wanting to do with the degree?
What are the requirements for the roles you're interested in?
Does the masters get you there or will you need to get some other experience along the way?
Do you know someone in the field who can point you to where you want to be and maybe skip some of the issues they had?
Are you willing to start as a junior technologist and work your way up again?
- Learn python by watching the freecodecamp videos on YouTube.
- Learn AI stuff (enough to build some really useful shit) by watching the FastAI course on YouTube.
Don't worry about not having any good ideas on what to build when you start out. Once you start taking the FastAI class, the lecturer point out many good ideas, which lead to your own ideas.
And you know, practice, build some small stuff, build some bigger stuff, talk about it, write about it, network, etc.
I think a masters that gave you expertise in the subject area be better than a generic CS masters. These are quite different areas. For medtech (and possibly BCI) medical compliance qualifications might open more doors than CS. For AI a masters in CS focusing on AI would presumably be a lot of use. I have no idea about aerospace but its seems likely that a different degree would be better than CS.
If instead you want to become a software engineer, then by all means do a CS degree, perhaps one which allows you to focus on the deep tech domain that interests you most.
If you're looking for a technical job, the easier path would be to find a PM/Designer job at one of your target companies and try switching to a dev role within the company. When you apply as a junior developer, your previous work experience will not be considered relevant. You'll be competing with other junior developers (who also likely don't have any relevant work experience) and it's much harder to differentiate…
And while you'll absolutely learn some things and find yourself excited about some ideas in those couple years, you will forget almost all of the stuff your learned within a few years of graduating because you won't be continuing to get your hands dirty and won't be building on the knowledge. Technical knowledge does not "stick" if you don't use it.
If you're a hungry learner and have the free time and money, you can go back to school for whatever you want. This sounds adjacent to your work, at least, so that's something. But remember that formal education is only the first and smallest step in learning a technical discipline, and it sounds like you want to continue PM'ing rather than transition to a technical IC, so you won't be continuing on the later steps.
If you're just trying to be the best technical PM you can be in your industry, there are almost certainly far more time/cost/stress-efficient ways to do so.
Seeing that you're in the medical field, I'd say look towards finding a job with your relevant work experience at a company that overlaps medical with the kind of technology you're interested in (using AI to analyze patient records for example). From there, you can use whatever experience you have gained on your own (I'm assuming you've been doing little code projects at home) to sidestep into roles at that new company that better align with what you want. Then, use the company's tuition assistance to get your CS masters as it directly aligns with the work you'd be doing. Since you've been a PM and also have whatever software experience you've gained so far plus the 2 years bump from the masters, you can easily slide into a senior or lead role. You can use your PM skills while also getting your hands dirty.
Of course you could just go get your CS masters right now and then start looking at software engineer jobs with 2 years experience (assuming no prior engineering experience) but I'm guessing that could be a big pay cut for you and you'd be 40 years old competing with 22 year olds fresh out of college willing to work for nothing. Not the best idea if you've got a family to provide for.
Also, I hear you. You're having midlife crisis because you're afraid you'll be stuck in a job you don't like for the second half of your career. Don't worry. Take it slow but move decisively. Find employers that overlap your experience with your interests and navigate with purpose. Don't rush to get a master's that will do little to get you where you want. Worry about that once you've got your foot in the door.